I don't know about you, but I love to hear good news. Especially in the midst of our downtrodden, controversial, and angry world, I love a good news story.
There is no greater news than the fact that God sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins on an old rugged cross. He lived a perfect life, and through His death and resurrection, we can have eternal life with the Father in heaven through Christ. (John 3:16, John 14:6, Romans 10:9)
I'm convinced that I have gotten wrapped in a culture that primarily feeds off of bad news, while putting the true "good news" stories on the back burner. This would include the gospel of Jesus Christ. Open up your social media feed and count the number of "Good news" stories vs. "bad news". I'd throw in sarcastic memes and dark humor in the "bad news" category. Just because we're laughing doesn't mean it's good news.
God has been impressing upon my heart that my perspective needs to shift drastically. In my first novel, The Chaser, one of the major themes of the story is the fact that in the midst of darkness, God's beauty and grace can be found anywhere. I was recently in the New Mexico desert for a month. On the ground, everything was kinda ugly. You could see nothing but dirt, rocks, and very little life. However, when I took a helicopter ride to the top of a mountain nearby, the view was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. I was still in the same place, but my perspective had changed. My view was higher. I used to be involved in a cable access television show called The Whatever TV Show. We derived our name from Philippians 4:8 which says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Paul writes all of this, trying to encourage the Philippian church to operate in unity and be more gospel focused. Earlier in the same passage, Paul says, "rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice."
I believe an attitude of thanksgiving and joy is a necessity in the life of a believer, and for too long I've participated and added to a culture of social media that is more hateful than grateful.
THUS, my commitment for this blog and my future writing endeavors is to be an agent of good news. I want to operate with a Philippians 4:8 mindset. The things I put on this blog and share on social media will focus more on being uplifting and Kingdom building, rather than angry and controversial. I don't believe anything is solved through an online debate. I don't believe we do the Kingdom any service by acting angry and divisive.
Now with that said, does that mean that my posts and articles will be watered down?
Absolutely not! I won't shy away from truth. However, I will not seek out debate through social media and the internet. That is only appropriate and better suited through other means.
You might say....God's word is not always fun and light. Sometimes its heavy and dark.
True. And the goal is not to ignore that by any stretch of the imagination. The goal is to always present the Bible as a whole work and not abuse scripture out of context. The goal will be to always point to the entirety of scripture and see the great hope that it carries for the redeemed.
Will I ignore bad news like natural disasters, sickness, immorality of our culture?
NO! We as Christians should be burdened with stuff going on in our world...not worried, but burdened. We should be ready to call each other to action, but the goal is to do that motivated by Christ-like love and devotion, not guilt and shame.
Does this mean that people won't read my posts?
Maybe. I'm not going for clickbait or controversial legalistic arguments.
All we have to do is look around our world and see the darkness. I feel led to help bring some light and good news. I hope that you'll join me.
A couple of things that you can look forward to will be....
ANOTHER MAGNIFICENT MONDAY- Each Monday, I am going to share a "good news" story or write about something that is praiseworthy. I'm specifically doing this on Monday, as it is typically the most unfavorable day of the week.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS DEVOTIONAL-I am currently working on getting family and friends to help me write daily devotionals during the week. I am going to have a new devotional every weekday. They'll be written by myself, some of my family, and some of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
WEEKEND VIDEO DEVOTIONALS-I plan on filming a short weekend devotional every week, putting it on my youtube channel and posting it on the blog.
If you have any questions or thoughts on the new direction and vision, please let me know. If you'd like to help contribute, please let me know. This is all for the glory of God!
